The Sword of Godric Gryffindor
by imkerfuffled
Summary: While the Golden Trio is off fighting Voldemort, another trio is fighting its own battles. Ginny, Neville, and Luna know that somehow Gryffindor's sword is vital to Harry... and they are determined to do everything they can to get it to him. (yeah, I know this has been done a thousand times before, but... I don't care)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this is my first fic on here, so... yeah, I'm kinda nervous. but don't try to go easy on me-constructive criticism is much appreciated! please tell me what you think! **

September First...

Ginny waited until Neville and Luna had deposited their trunks in the luggage rack before shoving the day's paper in their faces.

"Snape!" she shouted, waving the newspaper under Neville's nose. "Snape! How could they do this to us!? We used to be safe at Hogwarts!" she screamed, nose-to-nose with Neville.

"What are you going on about?" Neville asked, biting into a chocolate frog he had taken out of his pocket.

"SNAPE!" Ginny shouted again, so loudly that Neville almost choked on his chocolate frog.

"Oh, is he still teaching?" Luna asked, her usually serene face looking worried.

"I wish," growled Ginny, "No it's worse than that; he's _Headmaster_!"

This time Neville really did choke on his chocolate frog. "What!?" he spluttered, staring at Ginny as if hoping she would suddenly say the whole thing was just an April Fool's joke. She didn't.

"Read this," Ginny slapped the front page against his chest, too angry to read it herself.

Neville and Luna clustered around the newspaper, reading silently to themselves.

" '_Following the resignation of the previous Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor…_' " mumbled Neville, "Hold a second, they're those two Death Eaters we saw running down the steps from the Astronomy Tower the night—last year."

"It gets worse," Ginny fumed, "Read what Snape said."

Luna took over for Neville, who was apparently too horrorstruck to say any more. " '_I welcome the opportunity to uphold our finest Wizarding traditions and values — ' _Oh no!" she said suddenly, "He means he's turning Hogwarts into a pureblood school!"

"Then what's with the mandatory attendance?" Neville grumbled.

Ginny had already thought of that. "To weed out Muggle-borns," she said darkly.

"So that's why the Creevey brothers looked so miserable," said Neville, looking as if the chocolate frog had left a very bitter taste in his mouth.

"And did you see Deirdre Mallory?" Luna asked, "I haven't ever seen her cry that hard."

"I can't believe it," grumbled Ginny, "How can the Ministry have gotten so out of control that Voldemort is able to land his favorite Death Eater as Headmaster of Hogwarts?"

"Well, Scrimgeor's dead," Neville said gloomily, pretending he hadn't jumped when Ginny said Voldemort's name, "And I'll bet my hat that Thicknesse is under the Imperius Curse."

"Oh yes," Luna chimed in, "Daddy has found evidence that You-Know-Who recruited Sorrel Nevaeh."

"Who?" asked Neville, bewildered.

"She's possibly the current owner of the Elder Wand," said Luna, "Her specialty is the Imperius Curse."

Ginny was too angry to laugh. "I can't believe _Snape's_ headmaster!" she muttered.

"Yeah," whispered Neville. Suddenly he sat up, looking frightened. "Ginny," he said quickly, "I don't know if I can survive this year! I'm serious, Snape terrifies me! It was bad enough when he was Potions Master, but now he's _Head_master — " His eyes were wider than Luna's, darting around the train compartment as though expecting to see Snape peering in through the windows.

"Neville," said Ginny comfortingly, "He scares everyone out of their wits. It's going to be okay. Everyone's in the same boat, see?"

Neville, not looking impressed, mumbled something about a boggart.

"No, I'm serious Neville!" Ginny said, and she suddenly broke out in a wide grin, "Look what happened the last time the Ministry tried to make us do things we didn't want to! We could start up the D.A. again; it'll be just like last time, Neville!"

At this, both Neville and Luna raised their heads, both of them looking much more hopeful now.

"Yeah," Neville said again, though with a very different attitude, "I'll bet people still have their coins from two years ago…" Before even ending the sentence he had pulled his trunk down to the floor and was now rummaging through it with the air of someone who knew exactly where the thing he was looking for was hiding.

"We can recruit more people; it'll be bigger than ever!" Ginny cried, "And I think, if we practice hard, Luna and I could figure out the Protean Charm. We could make more message Galleons for any new people, or if someone's lost theirs."

"Oh, nobody will have lost theirs," Luna said matter-of-factly.

"Got it!" Neville shouted, reemerging from the depths of his trunk holding a small, seemingly ordinary, gold Galleon.

"Good," Ginny said in a business-like manner, "So Neville's got his, and I know where mine is. Luna, you still have yours, right?" Luna nodded. "Great! So now we just have to figure out how Hermione changed the dates on it. That shouldn't be too hard, it's just basic Transfiguration, and then we can — "

All of a sudden, the door to the compartment slammed open to reveal a frantic-looking Seamus Finnigan, a seventh year Gryffindor boy who Ginny didn't know well.

"Oh thank God, Neville, you're here!" he shouted the moment he laid eyes on Neville. "Dean's missing! I can't find Ron or Hermione anywhere, and Harry's not on the train either, but… well, you know."

He didn't say what was on everyone's minds. Only an idiot in Harry's position would have come back to school with Death Eaters swarming the place.

"Hey, Seamus," Ginny said suddenly, "You've still got your message Galleon from the D.A.?"

"Yeah," he said, "Why?"

"Well you're going need it."


	2. Chapter 2

**One Month Later...**

"Come in."

Neville stood on the top step of the rotating staircase leading up to the Headmaster's office, rocking back and forth on his toes. Though he had gotten into trouble before, it had only ever been with the Carrows. He hadn't been sent to Snape's office yet, and he was a little confused as to what he was being punished for, as the Carrows had already made sure he paid for his latest prank. Whatever it was, though, Neville figured he may as well get it over with. He took a deep breath and opened the door to the office.

If he had been expecting a larger version of Snape's old office, or maybe the Carows' — with evil-looking torture devises hanging on the walls — he was mistaken. The room looked exactly the same as when Professor Dumbledore had been Headmaster, from the spindly instruments on little tables, to the shallow stone basin in the cupboard, to the sword of Gryffindor sitting in its glass case. The only differences were the absence of Faux the phoenix, and the addition of a new portrait behind the Headmaster's desk: Dumbledore's portrait, feigning sleep like the rest of them.

And sitting behind the desk, where Dumbledore should have been, was Snape, with his iconic sneer written on every inch of his face. Neville could easily remember a time when that expression alone could reduce him to a blubbering wreck, but now he held his ground. There was no way he would let Snape bully him into submission this time.

"Longbottom," Snape said curtly, "The Carrows tell me they have caught one of the perpetrators behind _these _messages." He snatched a pile of photographs off his desk and held them up, making sure it was clear to Neville that he was about to get in big trouble. The top photo showed a stretch of wall with the words: _Dumbledore's Army. Still Recruiting_ dabbed on it in dripping red paint. The next read: _He will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to him... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. _And the latest: _Die, Snape. Die._

Oh yes, he was going to get in _very_ big trouble.

"Do you know who I'm talking about?" Snape asked quietly. A surge of hatred coursed through Neville, mingled with a sense of rebellion that—until his fifth year—he hadn't known he had. He didn't answer. He didn't give Snape the satisfaction of seeing him frightened. He just stared defiantly into Snape's cold, black eyes.

"I think you do, Longbottom," said Snape in that same quiet tone that meant he knew he had Neville cornered. "I think you were behind these… But you knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes," Neville said angrily.

"Yes, _sir, _Longbottom."

Remembering something Harry once said, he smiled and told Snape, "There's no need to call me sir, Professor."

A flicker of anger crossed Snape's face as Neville said this, but it was gone the next moment. "I do not take cheek from students, Longbottom," he said coldly. No doubt he would have taken points from Gryffindor if he hadn't known that Neville no longer cared about House Points, and if there had been any left to take.

Neville stayed silent.

Snape, taking advantage of Neville's silence, said immediately, "Who else has been writing these messages?"

Once again, Neville said nothing and continued looking into Snape's pitiless eyes.

"Could it be…" the Headmaster continued softly, "Miss Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood?"

Startled, Neville blinked. Neither Ginny nor Luna had ever been caught writing messages on the walls. It had only been him and his carelessness that had been seen. The idea had actually been Ginny's in the first place. Just as Hermione had gotten her inspiration for the enchanted Galleons from the Death Eaters, Ginny had taken her cue from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, when his old diary had made her write threatening messages on the wall in her first year.

"Let this be a warning, Longbottom," Snape sneered, "If you or your little friends attempt any more pranks aimed at undermining me or my position at Hogwarts, trust me when I say that you will be _very_ sorry. This is the only time I will say this; the next person caught in any wrongdoings who is found to be part of the organization you so laughingly call _Dumbledore's Army_ will wish they had never heard the name."

"So what are you going do, bring your precious 'Dark Lord' in to kill them? You'll go tattle to Voldemort?" Neville shouted recklessly, knowing full well that he would pay dearly for it.

This time, the look that flashed across Snape's face was clearly one of fright. He looked murderous, and Neville had no trouble imagining the man standing in front of him capable of killing Dumbledore.

He didn't need Snape shouting at him to "_Get out!_ _GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!_" for him to obey. He was almost sprinting in his haste to leave, pausing only once to turn around, make a quick salute to Dumbledore's portrait, then quickly dash out the door, narrowly missing being hit by one of Dumbledore's silver spindly instruments on the way out.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry for the delay in updating! I wrote this a while ago, so I was trying to go through and improve it (included adding new chapters to fill in time gaps)... but then I had finals, and I got sick, and... yeah. So I'm just going to post the stuff I had before, and maybe when I'm through I'll get around to adding new chapters (cuz I really want to :)**

**Oh yeah, this chapter is pretty much completely dialogue too. Sorry, the next one won't be.**

Later that day:

"You did _WHAT_!?" Ginny shouted, grinning from ear to ear, "Merlin's beard, Neville!"

She, Neville, Luna, and most of the D.A. were sprawled out on the grass in front of the large beech tree overlooking the lake. Classes had ended an hour earlier, and most of the school was taking advantage of the uncharacteristically warm October evening. Neville had just finished telling them the story of what happened that morning.

"I can't believe you said that to Snape!" said Ginny jubilantly, "I can't _believe _it!"

"I know! _I _can't believe I wasn't even punished!" Neville said, giddy from his recent encounter.

"Oh, he's going to kill you later," Ginny said, though she was still grinning wholeheartedly.

"What I don't get, though," said Demelza Robins, one of the many new recruits to the group, "Is why he freaked out so badly. It seems a little over-exaggerated if you know what I mean."

"But didn't you know?" Luna piped up, "The name has the Taboo on it."

"What is that?" asked Lily Moon, a girl Neville's age who joined early on in the year via Charms Club.

"It means that nobody can say You-Know-Who's name without attracting the attention of the Death Eaters," said Luna, "Daddy published an article on it in the Quibbler."

Neville turned white. This was one crazy idea of Luna's that actually made sense. "So, does that mean," He asked shakily, "That I just summoned You-Know-Who to Hogwarts?"

"That is what Snape was afraid of, probably," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Ginny said, "Well, judging by the fact that there aren't any Death Eaters running around Hogwarts—no more than usual, I mean—I'd say Vol- sorry, You-Know-Who, doesn't care what happens here, since there's no way for Harry or anyone from the Order of the Phoenix to get in. He only wants us as new recruits. We're expendable; it's Harry he's after… And—" Ginny was about to say something she had suspected for a while now. Something about that newspaper article on the Hogwarts Express hadn't felt right to her. Something just hadn't seemed to fit, and she thought she finally knew what. "And I think Snape may be expendable too," she finally said.

"What!?" several people cried.

"Think about it," Ginny explained, "Why would You-Know-Who put his most powerful Death Eater in charge of a school he doesn't care about? He should be right in the thick of things with the other Death Eaters. You-Know-Who's in control of the whole ministry now; he can do anything he wants. He doesn't even have to appoint a teacher as Headmaster; why can't he give the job to a less valuable supporter? And it's not like it would be unprecedented. That sort of thing has happened before; when the ministry feels the need, _they've_ always stuck one of their random minions in the post. Umbridge is no exception—"

"Where did you learn that?" Terry Boot asked suddenly.

"When you hang around with Hermione Granger for long enough, you kind of pick things up," Ginny replied, "But anyway, there's no reason for V- You-Know-Who not to keep Snape as close as possible. Either — well either Snape isn't as important as we all think, or he's here to protect something… I can't really think of any other reason for him to be here."

Following her speech, the D.A. just stared at her silently for a few seconds before Neville spoke up, "Could it be some sort of weapon, like last time?"

"Or maybe it could be something he's trying to keep away from Harry? Something that could help in the fight against You-Know-Who?" suggested Ernie MacMillan, "Can anybody think of an object that would fit that description?"

"He could be hiding Ravenclaw's diadem," Luna said, "Daddy's making a replica of it, and he says it could be hidden somewhere at Hogwarts."

Everybody ignored Luna.

'_Something he's trying to keep away from Harry?_' Ginny whispered to herself. The sentence triggered something in her mind. Something to do with… "Gryffindor's sword!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Gryffindor's sword, that's what he's hiding!"

"Why?" asked Seamus.

"Because Dumbledore tried to leave it to Harry in his will," she replied.

And so, prompted by everybody's confused expressions, Ginny explained what had happened that summer when the minister paid a visit to the Burrow to give Harry the contents of Dumbledore's will. She finally ended with: "But Scrimgeour wouldn't give Harry the sword, saying it wasn't Dumbledore's to give in the first place, that it belonged to the school."

"But it must have been important, right?" said Hannah Abbot, "Or Dumbledore wouldn't have wanted to give it to Harry."

"Hey!" Ernie suddenly shouted, for once not sounding pompous. "The sword's in Dumbledore's office! I saw it a few years ago when I was turning in a couple of seventh years."

"That's great, Ernie!" said Ginny excitedly, "Do you know if it's still there?"

Ernie shrugged and slowly everyone turned to look at Neville, who was staring off into space with a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Neville!" Ginny shouted just to get his attention.

"Huh — what!?" he yelled, snapping out of his reverie.

Ginny didn't wait to explain everything. "Where's Gryffindor's sword?" she asked immediately.

Neville looked confused.

"Gryffindor's sword!" she said again, "Is it still in the Headmaster's office?"

Neville had to think for a second before saying, "Yeah, I think… Yeah it's in there!" Then he went back to looking confused, "But why are we looking for Gryffindor's sword?"

"Because," said Ginny, "Right now Harry needs it. And we are going to find some way to get it to him."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Once again, sorry about the wait. I meant to post this yesterday, but the stupid finals got in the way again. (school's out now, so I won't have that excuse anymore) And sorry in advace if the next chapter gets delayed too; it needs some major revisions before I can salvage it for this site (plus I've got to play at graduation tomorrow: I'm in the band)**

* * *

Luna, Ginny, and Neville were trying not to look inconspicuous. They walked much more quickly than needed, pointlessly pounding their feet against the ground and acting exactly like one would expect a mediocre criminal running from a crime scene would act, all the while listening for the sound of—

"_ALECTO!_"

A pause.

"_ALECTO, GET OVER HERE!_"

"_Yes_!" Ginny whispered almost imperceptibly, right as the door in front the trio burst open, and a stocky woman flew out, just in time to run smack dab into Luna.

"Gah!" Alecto Carrow jumped a mile in the air before noticing the (possibly over exaggerated) guilty expressions on the three faces. She broke into a wide, toothy grin. "And what are you three doing up here, I wonder?" She rubbed her hands together maliciously, still smiling that evil smile of hers that she used whenever she caught students doing something wrong.

"_Alecto, come here!_" cried her brother's frantic voice again, and her head snapped in the direction it was coming from.

"I found a couple o' kids. I wanna deal with 'em first!" she shouted back.

There was another pause, before: "That's great, 'cause they're going straight to Snape's office. _Alecto, come over here!_"

Unnoticed by Alecto, Ginny, Neville, and Luna exchanged glances of triumph while the professor dragged all three of them back up the corridor they had just run through. Turning the corner she suddenly froze, her small, piggy eyes widening in horror.

On the wall, in red leaking letters, were the words: _Harry Potter is the Chosen One… Voldemort is going down._

Five minutes later, they were thrown roughly into the office of a livid Severus Snape. He stood clutching the edge of his desk, his cold eyes boring angry holes into each of them in turn. They all tried very hard not to gulp.

For a second, it looked like he was going to scream at them, but instead, with barely contained anger, he spat through clenched teeth, "Explain yourselves."

"Harry Potter is the Chosen One," Neville looked straight into his cold black eyes and said in a level voice, "and Voldemort is as good as dead."

Snape was shocked into silence, Amycus jumped a foot off the ground, and Alecto made a funny little squeaking noise like a mouse being trodden on before glancing quickly toward the door, as though expecting Voldemort to leap out from behind it. Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he hissed at them, "You _dare_ speak his—"

...But before he could say anything more, a resounding _BOOM_ echoed throughout the corridors and shook the castle to its core. Screams and yells sounded from somewhere below them. Two more explosions went off as the three Death Eaters traded panicked looks, their faces whiter than ghosts. Only as a third explosion reverberated through the school and smoke was seen billowing out the windows on the first floor did they rush out the door, closely followed by the portraits of old headmasters. Luna thought she saw Dumbledore wink at her, and she waved serenely back at him.

As soon as the sounds of footsteps faded away, Ginny said loudly, "Thank _you_ Seamus! That was perfect timing!" unable to suppress the grin slowly creeping its way across her face, she continued, "Okay, remember the plan. Luna, you wait outside and make sure Snape doesn't come back. If you see him, start singing 'Weasley is Our King.' Once we get the sword, head for the Room of Requirement. We'll hide out there until we get the chance to smuggle it out."

Luna smiled and stepped back down the moving staircase that led up to the office. Another blast shook the floor as the last box of Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs caught fire in the Entrance Hall, courtesy of amateur pyrotechnic, Seamus Finnigan. Smoke filled the corridor now, making it hard to see further than ten feet on either side. Content to just stand there and watch the patterns in the haze, Luna waited.

Five minutes later she hadn't heard anything from in the Headmaster's office, but that was to be expected. Ginny and Neville had to hide the sword in order to smuggle it out of the castle.

Ten minutes later, there still hadn't been a sound. Luna wasn't worried yet, though.

Twenty minutes later there was an ominous crunching sound, but the door didn't open. Now Luna was starting to get concerned.

A half hour later, when they still hadn't left the office, she was seriously considering going in after them to see what the matter was. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. The sword could have been moved, or they couldn't fit it in the sack Ginny brought to hide it in, or maybe—

The sudden sound of footsteps in the corridor caused Luna to momentarily panic, but there was no need, since seconds later a group of laughing Gryffindor boys making their way back to the common room appeared out of the smoke. Luna avoided them by staring out the window, where a long firework dragon had escaped and was now chasing the Carrows across the grounds, with Professor McGonagall standing off to one side looking like she was trying very hard not to laugh… until the dragon attempted to eat her hat, that is.

She was so immersed in watching the former deputy headmistress run around the grounds struggling to fend off a firework dragon, Luna almost missed the angry sound of footfalls striding along the now-empty corridor. Professor Snape marched towards her with a look of distracted frustration on his face.

Panicking (and trying not to let it show), she burst into song:

_"Weasley can save anything,_

_He never leaves a single ring,_

_That's why Gryffindors all sing:_

_Weasley is our King."_

Snape started, only just noticing Luna was there.

_"Weasley is our King,_

_Weasley is our King,_

_He didn't let the Quaffle in,_

_Weasley is our King!"_

"Silly girl!" Snape spat, "What are you still doing here?"

Luna decided to act innocent, "We didn't want to get in any more trouble, sir, so I decided to wait here for you to get back."

"And where are the others?" he asked suspiciously.

"They're still upstairs," she replied truthfully. Luna realized that she didn't have to look up anymore to look into Snape's face.

His eyes narrowed as they bore into hers. "Where are the others, Lovegood?" he repeated threateningly.

"I—" Luna started to say, but she never got the chance to finish. Snape swooped past her and onto the spiral staircase, shouting the password as he did so. But he didn't get far.

Snape was no higher than the second step when he ran right into Neville and Ginny, who was clutching a bulky object underneath her cloak.

Everyone froze. Neville swore loudly.

Luna hadn't even realized when she drew her wand, but suddenly she was shouting, "_Expeliarmus_!" while at the same time Ginny yelled, "_Stupefy_!"

Snape slumped to the floor, his wand arcing through the air.

Neville swore again, "We are going to get in _so_ much trouble for that!"

"Never mind that, we need to get out of here!" Ginny shouted, her eyes wide, clutching the sword close beneath her cloak. Sprinting now, she rounded the corner—

—And ran straight into Alecto and Amycus…

* * *

**Dun dun duuuuun! Cliffhanger! Next chapter should be the last (for now). Thanks to everyone who's stuck through with this!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey, you know how I said it may be a while before I updated? Well, I lied :) Tell me how this chapter works, because I'm kinda nervous about this one. Thanks for sticking with me!**

* * *

_One Week Later:_

Luna realized that technically, going with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest _was_ a very bad detention—it was called Forbidden for a reason—but neither she nor her friends could help but think they had gotten off easy. Ginny and Neville were just relieved, but it worried Luna. Why had Snape let them off with such an easy punishment? They didn't even consider this punishment, really; helping Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Luna would do that on any normal day. Surely Snape knew that.

So what were his motives? Nothing added up. Logically, Snape would wish to make an example of the three ringleaders of Dumbledore's Army, to put a stop to it once and for all… but he hadn't.

Why?

Luna remembered every detail of that night, after they were caught for the second time and led back into the Headmaster's office. Snape was revived, Luna handed him his wand back, and Ginny—glaring at the Death Eaters like she was getting ready to Stun somebody again—gave up the sword of Gryffindor. Snape and the Carrows had assumed she was the one in charge, and reluctantly (the Carrows had their wands pressed up against Luna's and Neville's heads, while Snape wand was leveled on Ginny herself) she was made to explain how they had come up with the plan, and what for. She left out Seamus' name, as Snape had failed to uncover it in relation to the Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, but she did spit acerbically in Snape's face that they would have gotten away with it if they had only managed earlier to break the glass case that the sword was housed in.

"It was locked," she admitted morosely, once the trio was back safely in the Gryffindor Common Room, "We tried everything: _Alohamora_, _Reducto_. Neville even tried to smash it with a chair, but the back legs just shattered, and it didn't do anything to the case. There wasn't a key that we could find, and finally I used one of those horrible curses that Amycus taught us on it, and the glass just _shattered_. That must have been when you started singing, because we never heard it… In any case, we took the sword, and then…"

Well, they all knew what happened then. Snape had appeared to be a mere inch away from homicide, and in light of that, his punishment had seemed fittingly terrifying at the time. Luna suspected that this was really only because of the mad glint in his eyes, and the fact that he had seemed stuck in CAPS LOCK during the entire outburst. He'd been beside himself with fury, spit flying from his mouth, his face so twisted in rage that it paid closer resemblance to an angry selkie than a human being. It was enough to make anybody frightened for their lives, but now, listening to the leaves crunch beneath her feet behind Hagrid, Ginny, and Neville, Luna began to look at the issue more rationally.

Snape had not told anybody about the attempted theft of Gryffindor's Sword (which even in normal circumstances—i.e. a Death Eater-less Hogwarts—would be enough to cart them off to Azkaban). He had forbidden the three of them to even speak of it, and imposed dire penalties on them if they dared to disobey him. (Of course, they immediately informed the rest of Dumbledore's Army, but Snape couldn't know that.) The school was told that Ginny, Neville, and Luna were being punished for setting off the fireworks, and that, Luna supposed, was believable enough. These days, any major rule-breaking was caused by the D.A, and it was only logical to punish the leaders of the group if there were no other suspects.

In short, however, Snape was trying to cover up the fact that the three of them had so nearly gotten the better of him, and in his own office as well. Snape did not want the school to realize that he held less control over his students than they were all led to believe. If word got out that three kids were able to break into his office, steal an important part of Wizarding history, and then proceed to _attack him_… It would be disastrous for his regime. People would begin to think that _they _could stand up to him too. They would begin to fight for what they believed in, and every little act of rebellion, be it small and insignificant (comforting the first years who came back from the Carrows' detentions) or larger, punishable offences (handing out copies of the _Quibbler_, or passing around _I Believe in Harry Potter _badges) would add fuel to the fire. Other people would see it, and they would start to believe too. Everything would layer on top of everything else, getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until one day the Death Eaters in the castle would wake up and realize that Hogwarts was ready to do battle. And when that day came, there would be very few people left to side with Severus Snape.

As Luna slowly came to realize this, she understood something else as well: It was up to them, to Dumbledore's Army, to provide the incentive and spur this day forward into reality. Nobody else was going to do it; trying to steal the sword was only the beginning.

Harry had provided the spark in his fifth year. In the intervening year, Luna, Neville, and Ginny, had kept this spark alive. This September, Dumbledore's Army had carefully added fuel and watched it grow; now it was time for them to really fan the flames.

They had set out on their mission to help Harry in the fight against Voldemort. At the moment, however, they didn't even have a way to contact him, Ron, or Hermione. Even if they had successfully stolen Gryffindor's Sword, it would have taken months to get it safely into Harry's hands. Right now, Luna realized, the best thing they could do to help would be to continue what they had been doing all along: provide hope, and keep adding logs to the fire. From now on, this would be the primary goal of the D.A., because—while outside, Harry was waging global war against Voldemort—Neville, Ginny, and Luna would fight their own battles on the home turf, a microcosm of the greater storm embodied in Hogwarts.

Luna made a vow then, walking through the Forbidden Forest with her friends, that she wouldn't stop fighting, not for anything. And she knew that Ginny and Neville were thinking the exact same thing.

They would never stop fighting.


End file.
